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Indigenous Poetry: Preserving a Way of Life through Imagery
The use of imagery within indigenous poetry contributes to the preservation of the the indigenous culture and way of life. It is the the language itself that serves as the primary foray into the understanding of any culture; however, the geographical location and the origin of native peoples is equally as important because it serves as the backdrop to better understand the indigenous culture. Within indigenous poetry, the depicted images supersede the written word. There are certain objects, ideas, and sentiments that are exclusive only to their experience. When those objects are written about, the language and culture become unified.The five senses weave in and out of the poems to magnify the richness in meaning and understanding. The Importance of imagery in indigenous poetry defines the status of the poet's experience at that point in time. "Sometimes, in the movement, motion, cadence, rhythm, lyric, song appears, as if music just existed for to collide into, and maybe it does. In movement, songs reveal what approaches need to be made to sustain and continue." Sing Poetry from the Indigenous Americas by Allison Adele Hedge Coke To illustrate this point further, I look to this excerpt by Moore Quinn from Circle of Stories:We Are Here ''from PBS.org, in which issues regarding native cultures are examined. It states, "For native peoples, culture and environment are deeply interwoven. They are one in the same because everything comes from the Earth and the land is often where ancestors reside. Particular plants, animals and landforms are religious symbols, sources of food and healing materials, and characters in myths and stories. Moore Quinn, ''Cultural Survival Quarterly, Summer 2001, 17 Indigenous Poets Leonel Lienlaf: Mapuche Poet "Bajan Gritando Ellos Sobre los Campos por Leonel Lienlaf Bajan gritando ellos sobre los campos silbando por los esteros corro a ver a mi gente a mi sangre pero ya estan tendidos sobre el suelo sobre ellos pasan los winkas/huincas hiriendo de muerte la tierra, dividiendo mi corazon Entre en busca de mi calor a mi casa ardiendo Broto el estero de mis lagrimas lloviendo sobre mis pies Ustedes entienden mis lagrimas? Escuchen al aire explicarlas Estan pasando los anos estan pasando los nidos sobre el fuego, esta pasando la tierra y ya me estoy perdiendo entre las palabras Escuchen hablar a mis lagrimas "Palabras Dichas" by Leonel Lienlaf "Another one is your word" said the copihue to me said the earth to me. I almost cried. "Your tears you should give to the flowers" the chucao said to me. The Copihue is the national flower of Chile. The Chucao: small bird native to Argentina and Chile. Lienlaf's mention of the Copiuhe and the Chucao represent two examples of nature imagery to paint a picture of his native lanscape. Zapotec Poetry “...the imagery and subject matter of Zapotec poetry help to preserve the indigenous way of life. This poetry brings to life various traditional arts such as weaving and cooking” -Clare Sullivan- Two lines from Natalia Toledo's poem, "The House of my Dreams" ...Smells of soursop and ripening nance, the sound of oil frying, fish smoke... Soursop is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree native to Mexico, Cuba, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America, primarily Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico. Description courtesy of: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soursop Page editor's note: Soursop is also known as Guanabana in Spanish. Nance is a fruit native to Central Mexico. The same way that Leonel Lienlaf writes about the Copihue and the Chucao, Toledo writes about two objects exclusive to her homeland; the Soursop and Nance fruit. http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2012/january/zapotec-poetry-bilingual-recordings#.VHE4w4dbuu4 "The Weaver" by Natalia Toledo Bibliography Lienlaf, Leonel. “They Come Down Yelling Through the Fields.” Sing:Poetry from the Indigenous Americas. Ed. Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. Tucson: U of Arizona, 2011. 147. Print. ---. “Palabras Dichas.” Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas. Ed. Allison Adelle Hedge Coke.Tucson: U of Arizona, 2011. 148. Print. Quinn, Moore. "We Are Here." PBS.org. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. Sullivan,Clare. "The State Of Zapotec Poetry: Can Poetry Save An Endangered Culture?." World Literature Today 86.1 (2012): 42. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Oct. 2014. Toledo, Natalia."House of My Dreams." Trans. Sullivan Clare and Natalia Toledo. From The Black Flower and Other Zapotec Poems Asymptote. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2014. ESPACIO PUBLICO. "Leonel Lienlaf a Cielo Abierto en Valparaiso." online video clip. Y''ouTube''. YouTube 13 Dec. 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. revista prometeo. "La realidad (Natalia Toledo, Nacion Zapoteca, Mexico)." online video clip. YouTube. YouTube 19 Apr. 2007. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. UCLA. "Sing: Poetry of the Indigenous Americas." online video clip. YouTube. YouTube 6 Jun 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. Wikipedia contributors. "Byrsonima crassifolia." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. "Zapotec Poetry: Bilingual Recordings." World Literature Today. Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.